Chemin d'Art Residency - Saint-Flour, France

Well I made it to France. It took me 48 hours and ton of waiting and traveling, but I made it to the residency. It's great here. We are staying in an old dormitory for the priests and nuns of the Catholic church of the city. It looks out on the valley of that surrounds the town. Saint-Flour is situated on a bluff made of Basalt. It's quite the quintessential medival town (equipped with its own McDonalds in the more modern part of the city). I have been here a week so I will try and catch everyone up. 

I arrived, as I stated earlier, after 48 hours of travel (I arrived at midnight here). The Following day I got sick halfway through the day with a fever, coughing, sinus stuff, headache, chest stuff and muscle aches. I am still getting over it 5 days later.

It was oppressively hot during the first 3 days of work in which I had a fever. It was around 95 degrees. 

I took saturday easy and just finished up the basic framework of the structure that will support the branches.

On Sunday I took the day off and went hiking with one of my new friends. It was quite nice. I was glad to get into the mountains away from the heat. I got to eat blueberries in the mountains. 

Today is now monday and I have begun to apply the branches to the structure. All seems to be going well. 

I have an assistant named "Emanuel" who is very  helpful. He is a college student helping out for the event. He has been de-leafing branches for the last 3 days, 8 hours a day in the direct sun. Poor dude. He is a world of help. My friend Anne has also been a world of help as I speak no French. She helps me translate as well as helps me run errands  and introduces me around the town. She works for the residency. I don't know what I would do without her.

The Other artists are all very cool people. I enjoy talking to them. Communication is my favorite part because I don't have the skills to communicate with most of them but listening and watching them interact has given me the ability to understand what everyone is saying....or at least the gist of it. 

I think that's all for now. I will post more details about each new day now that I am caught up.